and were recorded by
George Pagomenos (acting team leader, Greek Expeditionary Forces).

George
Pagomenos was born in a small mountain village called Aidonohorion on
the island of Crete, in Greece on 8th February 1929. He was the youngest
of eight children.

During World War
II when he was only 13 years old he
was in forced labour by the Germans after Germany defeated the allies at
the Battle of Crete. He served in Korea with the Greek Expeditionary
Forces attached to the US. Army 3d Infantry Division. Ten years after
his return from Korea he emigrated from Greece to the United Kingdom. He
has two sons and one grandson.

The
picture of George Pagamenos was taken in Greece after his return in 1954. Click on
his picture for a larger view.

Summary
of the Defense of Outpost Harry

I
served in the Greek Expeditionary Forces under Colonel Koumanakos and
Captain Skaltsas of the 3rd Company. On the night of 15th June we waited
to replace the troops on OP Harry. On the morning of 16th June 1953 our
Company was dispatched to OP Harry. Before we departed Captain Skaltsas
assembled us together and told us that we were going to defend OP Harry.
He explained that there was no cover and there were no trenches there.
Everything had been leveled by the heavy shelling of the Outpost. It was
important that as soon as we reached OP Harry that we would have to work
hard to dig trenches and prepare positions. Whatever happened we were
told not to withdraw from Outpost Harry. Skaltsas told us that we must
hold the position.

As
soon as we reached Outpost Harry we replaced American soldiers. There
were no trenches so we started to prepare trenches. Dead bodies were all
over the Outpost and as we dug the trenches it was like digging up a
highly populated graveyard. A team of Koreans worked with us and took
the bodies (all CCF) away as we dug them up to prepare trenches. The
smell of the dead had soaked into the earth and everywhere was the
unbearable smell of the dead.

It
was not possible to work on the northern face of Outpost Harry during
the daytime because we were watched by the CCF and they would bombard us
with mortar fire. We had some casualties as a direct result of CCF
mortar fire. We had to wait till it was dark before trenches could be
prepared on the northern face. Lookout guards were posted and a machine
gun post (gunner George Grigorakis) was prepared on the northern face of
Outpost Harry which played a very important part in the defense of the
Outpost.

That
night we were very fortunate since the CCF did not attack the Outpost.
We had been given an opportunity to carry out the most important
preparations to defend the Outpost. The next day we continued to prepare
as best as we could under, mortar fire. As soon as it got dark again we
speeded up our preparations to complete as much as we could.

Panoramic view looking North from OP Harry
towards CCF held Star with OP Harry trenches at lower right (Photo by Bob
Brandon)

The
attack began between 11:OOpm and midnight with heavy enemy shelling of
the Outpost proceeding the approach of the CCF. The lookouts spotted the
CCF approaching the Outpost rapidly. All our cable telephone lines had
been cut by mortar fire. There were no communications between the team
leaders and the officers. We did not have any intelligence for what was
going on other than what we could see. We did not know what was going on
but we could all remember the words of Captain Skaltsas that we must not
withdraw from the Outpost. The CCF approached and got into some of our
trenches and there was hand-to-hand combat with the CCF.

The
CCF was forced to retreat and regrouped to attack again and CCF reached
the trenches again. The battle lasted for about 3 hours. It was after 3
O'clock on the 18th in the morning when things started to quiet down at
Outpost Harry.

During
the battle we had a great deal of supporting mortar and heavy artillery
fire. Flares dropped with small parachutes to light up the darkness,
flares were launched from mortars from behind the Outpost so that we
could see the CCF during the attack.

(ed.
George Pagemenos' son has set up a small website to record progress on
the publication of his father's diary (see www.outpostharry.org).
It was published in the Greek language in November 2004 with the title: The
diary of a Greek soldier in the Korean War (ISBN: 960-406-928-4). The
diary includes the journey to and from Korea and all the battles that he
participated in including Outpost Harry (June 17/18). It also includes a
selection of photographs.

It was a joint
effort by the publishers (and distributors) Mesogeios and Ellinika
Grammata (www.ellinikagrammata.gr).
The publication was sponsored by the University of Cyprus. The next step
is getting the diary published in the English language.)